Sunday

Bagua: designed by a schizophrenic?

Bagua is a weird form of kung fu; it is so sneaky and evasive. I first saw Hubby doing it at bootcamp in 2007. He started learning it from Peter Southwood in 1990 and received 20 years training in the art from his teacher. Baguazhang looks very spontaneous to watch and is unpredictable.

I've learned the first 6 palm changes at a crude level and really feel the paranoid strategy of bagua. You are constantly turning unexpectedly, checking behind you, changing direction erratically. It was invented by an Imperial Guard, a bodyguard and is famous for its effectiveness. My theory is that it was created by a paranoid schizophrenic!

Hubby trains the palm changes for 30-60 minutes every day. I manage 15-20 mins myself most days and try to do 30 mins at the weekend. It is firming up my legs!

Early morning walks



Friday

The Adjustment Bureau

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJ0TP4nTaE

OK, Emily Blunt was just so awful and I don't really like Matt Damon but this was still a great film. Adapted from the Philip K Dick story. Hubby has owned virtually all of Dick's books since he was a teenager. They often lead to good movies.

Saturday

Sofa Time Machine

Hubby and myself are experiencing 'lost time' on a regular basis; particularly after a lengthy week of tai chi lessons.  One moment we're cuddling and the next... hours have passed! It's a strange phenomenon and I just don't know why it's happening.

To date, we're only moving forward in time. The furthest we've gone is about 3 hours.

Thursday

Totoro blankie

Women's self defence

Small creatures

Chuck - mid-season finale?

Episode 13 of Chuck in season 3 was clearly the intended finale to the show. It was odd to see the show climax, and then continue afterwards. Episode 14 seemed odd; unnecessary. Maybe the show was axed and then got funding for more episodes? Who knows?

Babylon 5 did the same thing. Season 4 ends wonderfully, and offers no scope for any real continuance, yet they scraped together fragments of material to produce a 5th lousy season which I have been advised not to watch.

Littlest hobo?

My husband told me yesterday that my hair looked like a comb-over and today he said that I looked like a hobo and offered to get me some twine to tie my coat with. Fortunately, he's just teasing me!

Monday

Can I handle another superhero movie? Not sure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrNdBpGMv8

Reaper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEKVSqX_cNQ

Underwear Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E2KP6jvdVE

Reaper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omXF4S4hLaE

Durham




Words that make me want to kill you #147

"I'm almost vegetarian"

Lucifer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmV9Fcjvt6c

Been watching too much Chuck

http://www.spyshop.co.uk/

Thinking about food makes me hungry

Recipies

http://genkikitty.wordpress.com/recipes/

Vegetarian in Japan

http://circleourearth.com/vegan-travel/vegan-country-guides/japan/

Japanese vegetarian

http://crystalbyblog.blogspot.com/
http://izumimirun.blogspot.com/
http://okonomiyakirecipes.nthmost.com/
http://vegetablejapan.blogspot.com/
http://www.justhungry.com/

Japanese vegetarian recipies

http://www.vegetarianrecipesandcooking.com/japanese-vegetarian-recipes.php

Wife









Finding a decent romcom...

I've watched so many lousy romcoms this year. Most are so funky and depressing. It is rare to find an upbeat one that makes you feel good.

Saturday

Reaper is great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGRf8mbtiXc

Taking responsibility

Isn't it common to hear people explain how an event or incident happen to them or upon them, as though they themselves were in no way involved in the event, except as victim? I hear this all the time at work.

People say things like "there was some confusion" rather than "I was confused". It's a process of taking themselves out of the equation. as though things occurred around them. Instead of being caused by them.

This kind of evasive, dodging of responsibility is so common in today's culture. The sad part is that it fools no one. It is completely obvious, lacking any semblance of subtlety or guile.

Friday

Nerd Herd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oezuAee2KDM

Nerd Herd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umfXVux9Obo

Anna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM1wjIz-zHc

Anna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-1yzeil2Ps

Nerd Herd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwrItkAxfeE

Anna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poEdgB728uo

Accents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enIlx5gEO9M

Jeffster

Jeffster

Big Mike

Anna Wu

Whatever happened to Anna Wu?

http://weloveannawu.com/help-us-bring-anna-wu-back-chuck

Morgan

Captain Awesome

http://www.nbc.com/chuck/captain-awesome/

John Casey


"You want to save the environment? Take a shower, hippie"

Buy More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqL9NVav6uE

Buy More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXNhCohZWVE

Buy More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y21IjhYAYnM

Buy Moria

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsB_335Mvh0

Buy More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WE_et_Dey4

Captain Awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecSnk5bl3sA

John Casey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIqEWRt8sBo

Why my Hubby can't watch martial arts movies...

Having watched Chuck for 2 seasons now, I can see quite clearly why my Hubby can't watch martial arts action scenes. They make me cringe, and I have no comprehension of Hubby's skill.

Real life self defence is nothing like what goes on in the movies and nothing like I learned in Taekwondo when I passed my black belt. The real thing is very sudden, small, decisive and scary.

There's no fighting as such in what Hubby teaches. The attacker begins to move and suddenly its over. I guess this doesn't look so great on film.

My top 5 Hitchcock movies

  1. The Trouble With Harry
  2. To Catch A Thief
  3. North By Northwest
  4. Rear Window
  5. Vertigo

Thursday

Words that make me want to kill you #31

"I'm in a band"

Lucky cat

I don't understand sandal fashion

Master/apprentice

My husband occasionally sends out e-mails encouraging students to study harder, explore the tai chi more extensively, read the website and train between lessons. Typically, no one replies.

Hubby is always puzzled why few students really engage with the art and why nobody replies to his e-mails. The answer here is actually quite simple. He's right, and so there is nothing to reply to.

We have succeeded in finding a superior tai chi instructor. Sadly, we are not ourselves superior tai chi students.